OSCE studiesMerlingen, Michael (Avtor) constructivismCopengahen schooldesecuritisationFoucaultHigh Commissioner on National Minoritieslong-term missionsnormalisationnormsOrganisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)powerThe Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has been givenlittle attention in International Relations scholarship. Against this background, 2001 was a bumper year for (English) books on the institution withfour major contributions emerging. Yet, if one turns from quantity to quality, one returns to normality. All but one of the books is descriptive, which is indicative of the state of the art. OSCE studies mostly eschew any explicit reference to analytical frameworks or theories. Such a descriptive orientation limits what can be said about the institution. This essay brings three theoretical frameworks into focus in order to illustrate the argument that research on the OSCE would benefit from a theoretical turn. It is shown how these three approaches - constructivist security studies, the Copenhagen school and Foucauldian power analysis - extend OSCE studies in previously unexplored directions, thereby opening new windows on the institution to reveal aspects of what it is and what it does that have not been brought to light before. While these three approaches do not exhaust the possibilities for theoretically informed research on the OSCE, they do point out the need for going beyond the state of the art of OSCE studies.20032022-03-30 13:44:44Članek v reviji135828sl